Compounds including carboxylic acid functional groups generally have poor solubility in hydrocarbon solvents. For example, hydrocarbon compounds including an aliphatic or arene moiety substituted with at least one acyl halide and at least one carboxylic acid functional group generally have solubilities below 0.02 weight percent in paraffinic solvents. Techniques for increasing the solubility of such compounds are desired. The resulting solutions would be useful in a variety of applications including the preparation of polyamides.